The invention relates to improvements in the inventor's patented hubodometer disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,430,561 issued Feb. 7, 1984. These improvements relate to a design for increasing the range of selectable gear ratios attainable from a single basic hubodometer frame and related components, which support a gear driven odometer and a counterweight common to most mechanical hubodometer designs.
Mechanical hubodometers employ an odometer which is calibrated to render a readout in any desired unit, such as miles, revolutions, yards, pieces and the like.
When used to measure distances, for example, the odometer must be actuated by a different gear ratio for each different wheel diameter. The gear ratio also changes depending upon whether distances are to be read in terms of English or metric units.
Prior art hubodometer designs do not have the capability to accept a wide range of gear ratios. Accordingly, in many instances a manufacturer cannot employ a single basic hubodometer frame and counterweight assembly for a broad range of gear ratios. Therefore, the manufacturer either had to fabricate and inventory several different frame and counterweight assemblies each having an ability to accept only a limited or restricted range of gear ratios, or the manufacturer did not attempt to supply the entire hubodometer market which is made up of applications in which hubodometers must render accurate measurements in either miles or kilometers, for example, with many different wheel sizes.
As a result, the economies which result from the manufacture, inventory and sale of a simple basic hubodometer frame and counterweight assembly for a wide range of gear ratios are difficult to obtain with prior art designs.